Thanjhae Teasley overcame early adversity earlier than scoring an eighth spherical stoppage of Selassie Bey on Friday night time in a showdown of unbeaten welterweight prospects.
Teasley (11-0, 5 knockouts) closed the present within the ultimate spherical of the Purple Owl Boxing predominant occasion in Houston, Tex., pummeling the badly fading Bey earlier than the referee halted the bout on the 1:22 mark. Bey (8-1, 8 KOs) went down halfway via the spherical, partially as a result of exhaustion, and was counted out standing as his arms by no means left their place resting atop the ropes.
It was a coming of age combat for the 25-year-old Teasley, who discovered himself on the ground close to the top of the second spherical when Bey landed a proper hand because the taller Teasley threw an uppercut. Teasley recovered properly, however the hazard remained current as Bey was in a position to rock him once more within the third spherical with a hook.
“I realized rather a lot. I realized how you can keep disciplined. Regardless of how unfastened I get within the ring, I’ve to watch out. As we all know, Bey is a tough puncher. No disrespect, I’ve felt more durable punches. He simply caught me with a extremely good shot and I misplaced my steadiness,” mentioned Teasley of Bethlehem, Pa.
Teasley started to get the vary he wished in spherical 4 because the 5’11” welterweight started to land mixtures from vary, turning the ability puncher and never letting him get set to land his heavier blows. The adjustment started to repay as Bey was damage by the nonstop punches of his opponent, forcing Bey to carry for survival.
Teasley scored his first knockdown in spherical six as a pair of rights put Bey onto the canvas a minute into the sixth. Bey, a Louisville, Ky. resident who had by no means fought previous 4 rounds, was struggling to maintain up with the tempo of Teasley. Bey turned a punching bag at that time, as his head was knocked again repeatedly with none reply.
Teasley put a beating on Bey in spherical 7 as a left hook to the physique adopted by a proper uppercut almost put Bey down once more. Bey’s face had been bloodied and swollen by this level, to the purpose that many trainers wouldn’t have allowed him out of the nook for the eighth spherical. Confronted with a overwhelmed and battered opponent, Teasley carried out his skilled duties, footslogging away till the combat was stopped.
With the win, Teasley scores his first stoppage in three fights, after going the space with Xavier Madrid and Javier Mayoral in his final two bouts. Nonetheless, Teasley acknowledged that there was room for development in future performances.
“It’s not that I used to be getting lazy however there have been a pair occasions the place I used to be getting stiff. I used to be an excessive amount of in my head however that’s a lesson,” mentioned Teasley, who turned professional in March of 2022 after solely about 15 newbie bouts.
“There have been occasions once I introduced my palms down and I believed I used to be out of his attain however he had a protracted attain. There have been occasions I wanted to remain extra disciplined. He had good physique protection and I used to be anticipating to get to the physique and the liver extra, I ought to have performed a greater job at setting these up. My conditioning helped me, my coach helped me, the gang helped me.”
Within the co-main occasion, Ephraim Bui (10-0, 8 KOs) defeated Yusniel Abrahante (6-2, 1 KO) by a controversial, but unanimous determination of their eight spherical junior bantamweight bout. All three judges scored the bout for Bui over the four-time Cuban nationwide newbie champion by the scores of 77-74 on two playing cards and 79-73 on the third.
Opening up the cardboard, Lyndon Patricio (1-0, 1 KO) completed off Corian Hawkins-Powell (0-2) within the first spherical of their bantamweight combat. Patricio, 20, of of Waianae, Hawaii scored two knockdowns earlier than the combat was stopped.
Patricio is the youthful brother of 2024 U.S. Olympic trials champion Shera Mae Patricio, who will make her skilled debut subsequent Saturday in Philadelphia.
